MINNEAPOLIS SCHOOLS DROP OUT OF DARE PROGRAM

Minneapolis schools will DARE no longer. After 11 years, the district
and the Police Department are pulling the plug on the controversial
Drug Abuse Resistance Education program in city schools. Current
classes will end by Jan. 31.

The program has been popular with students and parents, although its
effectiveness has been questioned for years. On Wednesday, as parents
heard the news, some were angry that there was no parent
representative on the committee that decided to end the program.

The district has been using the program for fifth-graders. DARE brings
police officers into classes to teach about the dangers of drinking
and chemical use.

Instead, district officials say, kindergartners through seniors will
learn a new comprehensive health program covering drug resistance and
also everything from first aid to exercise to emotional health to body
systems.

"We're going to be able to provide a much healthier curriculum for our
kids," said Pam Lindberg, a district curriculum specialist in health
and physical education. "The ultimate is to have healthier kids."

Some of the about $500,000 a year the Minneapolis Police Department
was spending on DARE will be saved, and some will be spent on four new
school liaison officers to bring the total number to 19. That saves
one aspect of the DARE program that many parents like: having kids and
cops get to know each other.

Police Chief Robert Olson said several studies have questioned the
effectiveness of the DARE program when it's used in only one grade, as
it is in Minneapolis.

"If you're just using the single component, the fifth-grade component,
it doesn't make a hill of difference," Olson said.

Some Concerns:

DARE is used in most Minnesota school districts, including St. Paul,
at a total cost of several millions of dollars a year. In fact, the
program is used in 80 percent of school districts nationwide,
according to the nonprofit DARE America. Only a handful have pulled
out of the program, said Ralph Lochridge, director of communications
for DARE America.

Lochridge said his organization's main concern would be that
Minneapolis children get an effective antidrug message. He said he
doesn't think liaison officers can be as effective, because DARE
officers in the classroom have more direct access to kids.

A 1997 Minnesota study by the DARE Advisory Council found that the
program seems to have little lasting impact in preventing drug or
alcohol use. Students reported that the drug-resistance strategies
they learned during 17 hours of classroom instruction didn't fit the
pressures they faced in the real world.

"Peer pressure is a lot harder in middle school and in high school,"
said Timothy Nelson, a freshman at Minneapolis' Washburn High, who's
glad the program is being discontinued. "It's better to start out at a
younger age and continue through middle school and high school."

Nelson participated Wednesday as a trainer for about 65 middle-school
students to become "bodyguards" -- students who coach younger kids
through some of those peer pressures.

"I had so many students come up to me and tell me that this was so
much better than the DARE program," Nelson said.

The district's new health program for kindergarten through sixth grade
is called Great Body Shop. Lindberg said that 26 schools are using the
curriculum now and that it will be phased in at the district's other
65 schools in the next two years.

Sheree Zaccardi, who is the co-president of the Parent Partnership
Council, said the district has some explaining to do. For one thing,
there wasn't a parent representative on the committee that made the
decision.

She said she doesn't want kids to be without any antidrug messages
while the district gets the new program in place. And, she asked, how
are teachers going to fit one more thing into an already packed day?
And where is the extra staff?

"A comprehensive program would be wonderful, but if it's not properly
staffed to get the program across to all the kids, it's pointless,"
Zaccardi said.

Minneapolis Public Schools Superintendent Carol Johnson said she hopes
the district will hear more parent voices in the future through the
elected Parent Advisory Councils. She said that in this case, the
district has heard feedback over the years from parents about DARE.
Some liked the program, but many questioned it.

"They wanted to know, 'What are we doing at sixth grade, seventh
grade, eighth grade?' " she said. She also said the new curriculum
will enhance a health program that already covers antidrug issues, and
she hopes that, with extra teacher training, the program can fit into
other subject areas.